SALON

Wednesday, Nov 21, 2012 8:45 PM UTC

Book gift guide: 20 picks for the season

By

Topics: From the Wires,

Book gift guide: 20 picks for the seasonFILE - In this Friday, May 16, 2008, file photo, author Louise Erdrich reflects on growing up in North Dakota and her new book "The Plague of Doves" at her store BirchBark Books in Minneapolis. Louise Erdrich is more than this year's winner of the National Book Award for fiction. She's a bookstore owner and has some ideas for what customers might pick up as holiday gifts. (AP Photo/Dawn Villella, File)(Credit: AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Louise Erdrich is more than this year’s winner of the National Book Award for fiction. She’s a bookstore owner and has some ideas for what customers might pick up as holiday gifts.

The four other finalists: “This Is How You Lose Her,” by Junot Diaz; “A Hologram for the King,” by Dave Eggers; “The Yellow Birds, by Kevin Powers; and “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” by Ben Fountain.

“This was a tough crowd!” Erdrich, who runs Birchbark Books in Minneapolis, wrote in a recent email about her competition.

Erdrich didn’t mention her own novel, “The Round House,” but another author-bookseller took care of that. Ann Patchett, the writer who founded Parnassus Books in Nashville, says she has been recommending Erdrich’s story of a boy seeking his mother’s rapist well before the award was announced in mid-November.

“I read the book really early on, and I’ve thought about it every single day since,” Patchett said. “It’s dark, funny, complex and very, very moving.”

Patchett had several other suggestions, from Jon Meacham’s biography “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” a pick she thinks ideal for men; to Maile Maloy’s “The Apothecary” for middle schoolers. She also loved J.K. Rowling’s first grownup novel, “The Casual Vacancy,” a feeling she made clear in October when she interviewed the “Harry Potter” author on stage at Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Erdrich also cited the illustrated edition of Edmund de Waal’s “The Hare With Amber Eyes,” writing that “it feels lustrous in hand, orderly, pleasing. This is what a book should be.”

Gayle Shanks, owner of the Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, Ariz., likes the novel “Beautiful Ruins” by Jess Walter; Deb Perlman’s “Smitten Kitchen” cookbook; and Marcus Samuelsson’s memoir “Yes, Chef.”

Barnes & Noble is suggesting works of humor (“The Onion Book of Known Knowledge”), music (An illustrated Rolling Stones biography to mark the band’s 50th anniversary) and history (“Reporting the Revolutionary War”).

Sarah McNally, owner of McNally Jackson Books in Manhattan likes Alice Munro’s story collection “Dear Life”; Alan Ryan’s two-volume history “On Politics” and Louise Glueck’s “Poems 1962-2012.” Kate Milford, a children’s author and McNally Jackson employee, suggests the picture book “Cecil, the Pet Glacier,” by Matthea Harvey; the middle school novel “Twelve Kinds of Ice,” by Ellen Bryan Obed and illustrator Barbara McClintock.

“This is going to be one of those things adults buy for a kid and end up keeping themselves or giving to other adults, too,” Milford says of the Obed book. “It’s beautifully illustrated, beautifully written, and just feels like a classic gift book.”

Hillel Italie

More Hillel Italie.

Next Article

You Might Also Like

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

Gripping photos: The people of the Turkey protests (slideshow)

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • The protests take on a festive element as police forces move out of the park and square. Wearing a gas mask, this young man dances to traditional Turkish music in front of Taksim Square’s Ataturk Monument.

  • In Gezi Park since March 31st, this protester, originally caught off-guard by the Government’s teargas and water cannons, went out and bought a Russian army mask from WWII, preparing for what was to come.

  • This rambunctious boy seems to be enjoying the chaos. After taking this picture he threw a stone at the already destroyed building in the background.

  • Forming a line, the police face off directly with protesters in Taksim Square. After a while, they retreated and there was a general cheer – a back-and-forth dance that has been common since the beginning of this protest.

  • An elderly woman in Gezi Park reads the news. The tent community occupying the park was violently destroyed on June 16th.

  • Many different groups had set up booths to promote their cause in Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Standing in front of one, this man waves his flag while posing with conviction.

  • Many home-remedies are used to minimize the effects of tear gas. This woman has put a milky solution on her face, removing her mask after the tear gas dissipated. Before sunrise, the police came again for another round of teargasing.

  • People capitalize on the uprising -- selling flags, beer, gas masks, sky lanterns and spray paint to name just a few of the popular items.

  • On Monday morning, June 11, the police execute a strong offensive. Many plain-clothed police officers, like the ones seen here, clash with protesters in the side streets away from the main stand-off in Taksim.

  • The authorities seem to be most aggressive in the night, pushing protesters away from the square and park. After being teargassed this young woman catches her breath with other protesters on Siraselviler Street.

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

More Related Stories

Comments

 0 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username ( settings | log out )

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Video of the Day

Watch More Here »

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves": Growing up primate

Recommendations